Information processing apparatuses, such as mission-critical servers, employ a configuration which includes an SVP (SerVice Processor) and an SPC (System Power Controller). The SVP, which is provided independently from hardware of a main processor for executing tasks, performs maintenance and operation of the information processing apparatuses. The SPC controls a power-supply device of the information processing apparatus.
The SVP and the SPC are on-board computers that have corresponding processors (hereinafter referred to as CPUs (Central Processing Units)). In addition to the CPU for executing the aforementioned processing, each of the SVP and the SPC has a storage medium such as a hard disk or a memory for storing firmware. A firmware is a kind of a program containing a series of instructions used for performing the maintenance and the operation of the information processing apparatuses and executed by the corresponding CPU.
Since such mission-critical servers need to operate stably. Accordingly, each of the storage medium for the SVP and the storage medium for the SPC is duplicated. That is, the firmware is installed in each of the duplicated storage media, and one of the storage media is used as a storage medium in a working system and the other storage medium is used as a storage medium in a standby system. When a failure occurs in the storage medium in the working system, that storage medium is switched to the standby system and the storage medium that was previously set as the standby system is switched to the working system. Maintenance is then performed on the storage medium in the standby system (i.e., the storage medium in which the failure occurred).
An upgraded version of the firmware for the SVP and an upgraded version of the firmware for the SPC are supplied, with both of the firmware being contained in one package such as a folder or archive, from a management center with which a computing system can communicate over a network. Such a firmware package will hereinafter be referred to as an HCP (Hardware Control Program).
An update procedure for the SVP and the SPC when a new version of the HCP is supplied will now be described with reference to flow diagrams illustrated in FIGS. 20A and 20B.
As illustrated in FIGS. 20A and 20B, since the storage medium in the working system is operating in the SVP, the new version of the HCP is downloaded from the management center to the storage medium in the standby system. A new version of firmware for the SVP being included in the HCP is installed to the storage medium in the standby system. Maintenance personnel may then perform a setting on a next-time startup version-number area, which is included in a header section in the storage medium (e.g., a hard disk) in the SVP. The setting indicates that during the next startup, the storage medium on which the new version of the firmware is installed is switched from the standby system to the working system. That is, the maintenance personnel perform a setting so that the CPU in the SVP launches the firmware in the storage medium set as the storage medium in the standby system when the power of a server apparatus is turned off and the power is then turned on again. Thereafter, when the power of the server apparatus is turned off, the CPU in the SVP confirms that the version number of the SPC firmware included in the HCP stored in the working-system storage medium in the SVP matches the version number of the firmware installed on the working-system storage medium in the SPC. Thereafter, the CPU in the SVP finishes the entire processing.
Next, when the maintenance personnel turn on the power of the server apparatus, the CPU in the SVP included therein sets the storage medium set as the standby system before the power was turned off as the working-system storage medium to launch the new version of the SVP firmware on the storage medium in accordance with the setting for switching the storage medium during the next startup.
At this point in time, however, the new version of the SPC firmware is only the firmware included in the new version of the HCP stored in the (newly switched) working-system storage medium in the SVP, and is yet to be installed in either of the storage media in the SPC. Thus, the SVP needs to be started with the old version of the firmware to continue subsequent processing.
In order to update the firmware in the SPC, the power of the server apparatus needs to be turned off and the power is then turned on again. Thus, when the power of the server apparatus is turned off, the CPU in the SVP confirms that the version number of the SPC firmware included in the HCP stored in the working-system storage medium in the SVP does not match the version number of the firmware installed on the working-system storage medium in the SPC. That is, the CPU in the SVP confirms that the version number of the SPC firmware is older than the version number of the firmware in the working system in the SVP. The CPU in the SVP then instructs the SPC to download the new version of the SPC firmware included in the HCP stored in the working-system storage medium in the SVP. The CPU in the SPC then downloads the new version of the SPC firmware to the standby-system storage medium in the SPC and performs setting so that the storage medium is switched from the standby system to the working system during next startup.
Next, when the power of the server apparatus is turned on, the CPU in the SPC included in the server apparatus whose power is turned on handles the storage medium which is handled as the standby-system storage medium before the power was turned off as the working-system storage medium to read and launch the new version of the SVP firmware stored in the working-system storage medium. Upon the launch of the new version of the SVP firmware, the version number of the firmware launched by the SVP and the version number of the firmware launched by the SPC match each other. That is, the firmware in the working system in the SVP and the firmware in the working system in the SPC are updated to the versions of the firmware included in the same new version of the HCP.
FIGS. 21A and 21B illustrate a flow of an operation in which only the SVP is restarted (reset) rather than turning off and on the power of the entire server apparatus in order to switch between the working system and the standby system for the storage media in the SVP. The operation illustrated in FIGS. 21A and 21B are a variation of the operation illustrated in FIGS. 20A and 20B. When the SVP is restarted, the SVP confirms that the version number of the SPC firmware included in the HCP stored in the working-system storage medium in the SVP matches the version number of the firmware installed on the working-system storage medium in the SPC as illustrated in FIGS. 20A and 20B. Thereafter, the SVP restarts (resets) itself and handles the storage medium handled as the standby-system storage medium before the power was turned off, as the working-system storage medium to read and launches the new version of the SVP firmware in the working-system storage medium. Subsequently, through the same procedure as that illustrated in FIGS. 20A and 20B, the SPC firmware is updated to its new version.    [Patent Document 1] Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 1-234954    [Patent Document 2] Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 10-171633    [Patent Document 3] Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2008-225763    [Patent Document 4] Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 5-127891